ST. LOUIS – A water bottle became the story after the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2, Saturday at Enterprise Center.

While Nazem Kadri was conducting a post-game interview after scoring one goal and assisting another, St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington threw a water bottle in Kadri’s direction.

“I was a little tied up,” Kadri said after helping Colorado take a 2-1 lead in the series.

“I was doing the interview, so I wasn’t quite sure, but I think it was him.”

“Not sure if he just threw a water bottle at me” 😳Nazem Kadri appears to have a water bottle thrown at him while discussing the collision with Binnington 🔎 pic.twitter.com/6XLbAdxEEm

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 22, 2022

It was Binnington, and the reason was likely due to Kadri’s involvement in the play that saw the Blues goalie exit the game. Late in the first period, Kadri and Blues defender Calle Rosen were racing toward the goal for the puck. Kadri said he got bumped into the Blues goalie, which made contact unavoidable.

“Had that not been the case, I don’t think I would’ve hit him at all,” Kadri said. “It’s a loose puck. I’m just trying to bang it in.”

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar called it an unfortunate play, and he viewed the hit that sent Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard to the hospital with a broken sternum the same way. Girard was checked in front of the boards and will miss the rest of the playoffs, Bednar said.

“That’s a legal play, and it’s unfortunate,” Bednar said.

St. Louis scored the opening goal a couple of minutes after Girard was helped off the ice. Colton Parayko’s 98-mile-per-hour slap shot beat Darcy Kuemper just after a faceoff.

“I think the start of today’s game was sort of how we looked last game where we weren’t closing on them quick enough in the D zone,” Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor said.

O’Connor tied the game later in the first period when he beat Ville Husso, Binnington’s replacement, for the first time. Kadri redirected Cale Makar’s shot past Husso late in the second to break a tie.

“Great play by Cale. I was able to get a stick on it,” Kadri said. “Obviously, that was a difference-maker in the game and kind of got us going a little bit.”

Kadri assisted on the first of Artturi Lehkonen’s two goals a few minutes later. Lehkonen carried the puck into the offensive zone and had Bowen Bryam to his right, not that he needed any help.

“I knew that we had two. The whole bench was yelling to me,” Lehkonen said. “Honestly, I wasn’t even looking.”

Ryan O’Reilly’s rebound goal in the final minute of the second made it a one-goal game to start the third. But the Avalanche dominated the final period and capped the win with late goals from Gabriel Landeskog and Lehkonen.

“We were highly competitive in all areas of our game,” Bednar said.

Game 4 is set for Monday in St. Louis.